As soon as Harry Brook was called up as cover, this one-day series became a play within a play, a spin-off with the glamour of the Colbys in their 1980s shoulder-padding prime. And in episode one, a crushing eight-wicket defeat by New Zealand, Dawid Malan and Liam Livingstone snuck the best reviews though neither as sparkling as Devon Conway’s and Daryl Mitchell’s match-winning centuries.
Tom Latham won the toss and bowled, so Malan marched out with Brook after Jason Roy, another with a question mark floating above his head, suffered a back spasm before play, and Jonny Bairstow was rested with a shoulder twinge. After a watchful start against tight New Zealand bowling, Malan eased into his work, snatching two fours off Tim Southee’s third over. Now he was centre stage, here a drive past Matt Henry’s toes for four, there an effortless pull for four in front of square – just a man pulling off his velvet bow tie after a dinner cruise on the Hudson river.
Livingstone also swaggered in for a fat stack of clean hitting – dismantling an over from Kyle Jamieson with three sixes: a slower ball cracked over backward-square leg, a front foot slam into the sightscreen, then a top-edged pull, the crowd’s roar loud enough to disturb those tinkling the ivories in the nearby Royal Welsh College of Music. He was reprieved after edging high into the deep, when Lockie Ferguson’s front foot was shown to have overshot, reaching a 39-ball fifty before shooting Southee into the haze and being caught at long on.
Brook, the man whose presence has ruffled the feathers in the hen house, had a quieter game. He had never opened before in 50-over cricket, for either club or country, but despite getting off the mark with a boundary, never looked quite at home on a sticky pitch.
Through the melodrama, it was Jos Buttler, resplendent in England’s new kit, with a royal blue towel hanging out of the back of his royal blue trousers, who top scored on his 33rd birthday. He and Ben Stokes, making his own return after his reversed retirement, had to rebuild after Rachin Ravindra turned the screw, with Joe Root looking rusty in his first ODI game since last July. Both wise old heads made half-centuries, Stokes reaching his with a leg-side hoopla off Ravindra before, two balls later, sending the ball straight to cover, turning on his heel and stalking off.
Buttler and Livingstone put on a rapid 77, before the excellent Southee returned and had them both caught in the same over – leaving just time for David Willey to crack a rapid 21, finishing the innings with a six down the ground.
The trees of Bute park didn’t reach close enough to shade the crowd sitting in unexpected and fretful September Welsh heat, courtesy of the Omega block stuck over Europe. Sun safety warnings flashed up on the big screen, though a prophetic haze came over the game as England took to the field after the break.
New Zealand’s innings was a lesson in quiet control from Conway, who finished with an elegant 111, and explosive hitting from Mitchell, who lit up the floodlit Sophia Gardens with huge sixes and skimming lofted drives in his 91-ball 118.
Conway and Will Young had weathered the storm of England’s opening overs, surviving Chris Woakes and tucking into Reece Topley, whose length eluded him, and whose first two overs went for 25.
The breakthrough came when Buttler threw the ball to Adil Rashid, who struck with his first delivery. His tinkling approach belying a perfect leg break, zipping past Young’s prodding bat.
Gus Atkinson, presented with his ODI cap by Stuart Broad in broadcasting mode and a white T-shirt, had to wait until the 16th over to get his hands on the ball. Legs like a zealous sapling, he walked to his mark with his feet at 10 to two, zipped back with easy, unexpected pace. Spells either side of dusk were fast but brought no reward.
Henry Nicholls was tempted by a wide one from Willey, into the gloves of Buttler for 26 – but then England hit the duo of Conway and Mitchell.
A couple of difficult chances slipped through the hands – but England had no answers to the partnership that rose up and away. Rashid, forced off the field with cramp after three parsimonious overs, found life more difficult when he returned, immediately slammed down the ground for six by Mitchell – his eight overs finally costing 70. Mitchell won the game with his seventh six, and a score both sides thought above par was breached with 26 balls to spare. England travel to Southampton hoping injuries and rustiness can be swiftly shaken off.
